In a cold winter evening not long ago, through my work, I found myself sitting in a school staffroom with a group of volunteers gathered around a table. It was one of many such evenings I have shared in schools across Galway and further afield over the years. Some had come straight from work, others…
John Allen, the editor-in-chief of Crux whose decades-long career in journalism defined him as one of the authoritative voices on the Vatican and the Catholic Church, has died at the age of 61. Allen passed away in Rome Jan. 22, after battling cancer since 2022. He is survived by his wife, Elise Ann Allen, Crux’s…
Dr Mary McAleese’s Irish Times column recently argues [an argument that she has been making since at least 2018] that infant Baptism “denies babies their human rights” because it enrols them—without their consent—into lifelong Catholic membership with binding obligations and (in her view) a “no-exit policy.” She ridicules the language of “renewing baptismal promises” (since…
A Nigerian bishop urged intensified military action to “eliminate” bandits and their hideouts in the Kainji Game Reserve amid reports of the killing of 50 people between Christmas and New Year’s and traumatizing of children recently abducted from St Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri. Bishop Bulus Dauwa Yohanna of Kontagora recounted multiple attacks on both Christians…
What would Jesus say? Dear Editor, the Lord Jesus was Jewish, born in Bethlehem, which is now in the occupied West Bank of Palestine. One wonders if He were walking the roads of His native land today, what would he say and do? Judging by His life as recorded in the Bible, we know that…
How can Scripture draw us more deeply to God? One ancient Christian practice offers a path: lectio divina, Latin for ‘sacred reading.’ It is one of the earliest forms of Christian prayer, long recommended by the Church as a way to let the Bible come alive in our hearts. From the beginning, Christians followed the…
Friendship and inclusion: the keys to unlocking closed doors Dear Editor, As a priest who worked in England for over 50 years, I have returned home in retirement, and am wrestling to fully understand what is happening in the Church of my homeland. There are shattering changes across the religious dimensions of Catholicism nationwide, and…
John McGinley Across the UK & Ireland, something quiet and yet unmistakable is stirring. People are beginning to seek God. A quiet revival is breaking ground, and the Spirit is moving with fresh power and purpose. The Lord is at work, drawing hearts, shifting spiritual atmospheres, and calling His Church to consecration, and courageous obedience.…
Political generosity in the upcoming presidential election Dear Editor, In the interest of democracy, local authority council elected members should be allowed a free vote when it comes to the nomination of presidential candidates. They should not be fettered by political party loyalties which block potential candidates. The constitutional requirements were never intended to be…
Tetiana Metyk Ukrainian refugees carry deep spiritual wounds that, with God’s help, need healing. In the small chapel at Summerhill College in Sligo, around twenty parishioners are gathered for the Sunday Liturgy. Most are young or middle-aged, attending with their families. Little girls in bright dresses, fidgety boys occasionally dashing into the college corridor to…